Passing of the Torch
by ordinaryguy2
Summary: Another story by Carycomic! Cold War-era intrigue creeps into the Wizarding World. A Harry Potter et al. crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**PASSING OF THE TORCH **

by Carycomic

**Synopsis:** _Cold War-era intrigue creeps into the Wizarding World. A Harry Potter et al. crossover._

**Characters and concepts:** _if you recognize them, I don't own or profit from them._

**Chapter 1**

**BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS**

**JUNE 9, 1955**

Captain Philip Strange and Cassandra Crescent Moon had first met during World War I.

A German fighter squadron called the Wulfstaffel had begun strafing Allied troop encampments by night. Doing so with both uncanny accuracy and intolerably increasing frequency! So Phillip had once more been ordered to detached duty with Le Deuxieme Bureau (French army intelligence) as "_Agent G-8_." His mission, this time? To locate the Wulfstaffel's aerodrome; and, then, to put both it and them out of service, permanently.

By any means, necessary.

As with all his previous assignments, Philip had not been chosen for this one, randomly. True, he was not the only American aviator who had compiled an enviable combat record as a member of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. But, he did have one special talent that all his fellow flying aces lacked.

Philip had been born with ESP!

It was a talent that his parents had both camouflaged and exploited, all through his Victorian-era childhood, in the form of a vaudeville mentalist act. The truth was eventually discovered, however, by Dr. Jules Grandin. A naturalized French expatriate serving as Precept of the New York City Legacy House. And it was the good doctor who ultimately "_persuaded_" Philip's parents, both financially and legalistically, to grant him custody of their son so he could help nurture Philip's talent. Help him to refine it, and to use it more philanthropically, than they had.

It was this same talent that allowed Philip to accomplish the first part of his mission with relative ease. Initiating completion of the second part, however, was unexpectedly complicated by his discovery that all the pilots in the Wulfstaffel were really and truly, one hundred percent bona fide... werewolves!

More specifically: Black Spiral Dancers.

The latter had been imperio-cursed to the German cause by Dr. Ahmed Chezi (Setite-ghouled Precept of the renegade Turkish Legacy House) in collaboration with a nephandic wizard named Gellert Grindelwald. So Philip- -realizing that he would have to fight fire with fire- -called for an emergency consultation with a certain member of the Society of Watchers at the Parisian Legacy House. Following which, he used his ESP to pierce the veil of invisibility surrounding L'Academie Beauxbatons, near the Breton Forest of Broceliande. Which, at that time, was the latest home-away-from-home for the Immortal wizardess known as...

...Cassandra: Last of the White Howlers.

The latter had first come to that French school of wizardry, in 1913, as a Visiting Professor of Muggle Studies. Yet, when the war broke out, a year later, the resident faculty almost immediately converted part of it into a shelter for local civilian refugees. Especially, those of partial Wizarding-folk descent! Cassandra, therefore, did not hesitate to use her wide knowledge of various healing arts, past and present, to aid the school nurse in treating the sick and injured.

Nor did she prove hesitant in granting Philip's request for help upon learning that her old enemies, the Black Spiral Dancers, were once more up to no good.

Thus, between her broadsword, the .45-caliber silver bullets in his twin Colt M-1911's, and a lot of high explosives, the Wulfstaffel were put out of everyone else's misery, once and for all. With Philip, himself, personally terminating Dr. Chezi with extreme prejudice. Grindelwald, unfortunately, escaped. Due mostly to the interference of a Schwyzerdeutsch auror, named Heinrich Eberstadt, who seemed shortsightedly obsessed with bringing Grindelwald in alive. Indeed, when it was discovered, shortly afterward, that he and Grindelwald had been roommates at Durmstrang Institute, just prior to the latter's expulsion from there, this fact was strangely dismissed, by the French Minister of Magic, as "_coincidental and irrelevant_!"

Still, if there was one good thing to come out of that adventure, it was that, for the next twenty years, on every Armistice Day like clockwork, Philip and Cassandra held a private reunion. With him teaching her how to fly biplanes, monoplanes, and autogyros. And with her returning the favor by refreshing his knowledge of battlefield swordsmanship.

Such were the memories Cassandra now shared with Tangina Barrons at the reception following Philip Strange's funeral.

"I guess that makes you the new Precept of Boston House," she hastily added in conclusion.

Tangina, courteously ignoring the abrupt change-in-subject, nodded.

"He'll be a tough act to follow, of course. In fact, I even said as much to him while he was still on his deathbed! But, he just smiled and said that all new Precepts felt that way, at first. He reminded me that confidence only grows with experience. And that initial failures are twice as educational as successes!"

Cassandra grinned. "I think he was quoting his own predecessor when he told you that. But, it's still true. Now, as well as then!"

"Enough about me, though," replied Tangina, now taking her turn at changing the subject. "Where will __you__ be going from here?"

Cassandra's grin shrank down to a rueful smile.

"Well, first, I'm going to offer my condolences to Philip's widow and little boy, one more time. After that, I'm off to Greenwich Village. Jethro got word, from some of his old friends in the Akashic Brotherhood, that Roland Kantos has been sighted in northern India, near the Vale of Kashmir. Apparently, he's making his way toward the border of Chinese Turkestan. In the company of a Setite-Embraced animagus called Fenris Greybeard! Just why is anybody's guess. But, whatever they're after, with a twosome like that, it can't be anything good."

**NEW YORK CITY, NY**

**(MAY 30, 1967)**

Martin James Dale had been born and raised in Manhattan of the Roaring Twenties as the only son and child of Jimmy and Marie Dale. His father had been a notorious turn-of-the-century cat burglar better known as "_The Grey Seal_". While his mother (nee LaSalle) had been the only daughter of a French diplomat named Andre LaSalle. Upon coming of age, during World War II, Martin decided to follow in his father's felonious footsteps. Although, he did so on behalf of British Military Intelligence and was given the code-name "_The Picaroon_" while he stole Nazi military secrets from all over the European Theater of Operations!

In the spring of 1944, he had stolen information crucial to the forthcoming Allied invasion of Normandy. Information that he subsequently transferred to an Anglo-American spy named John Baring Summers (a.k.a. "_The Grey Shadow_") and his female pilot, Ruth Darrow. In the midst of doing so, he could see from their facial expressions that they had developed a near-instant attraction for each other. So, it did not surprise him in the slightest when he was eventually invited to their post-war wedding!

That, in turn, is why the Summers family were attending his funeral, twenty-three years later. For as they had explained it to their baffled adolescent son: "If it weren't for him, Hank, you wouldn't be here, today!"

Following the funeral, everyone reconvened at the former Greenwich Village brownstone of Jethro "_the Green Lama_" Dumont. But, now better known to most Legacy members as New York House.

"It's good to see you again, John," said Precept Godfrey Usher.

"You, too, Doc! How's life been treating you?"

The eighty-something parapsychologist shrugged. "Not bad, for someone who never settled down to domestic bliss as you did. Although, I'm half-seriously considering retiring to the West Coast, like Jethro did."

"That'd be better than winding up dead in Washington, DC," replied John, in a suddenly harsh whisper. "Half a block from the East German embassy... like Martin did!"

Usher's eyebrows arched in shock.

"How. . .?"

"I liaise for House Fortunae, remember? Sooner or later, we hear about everything. Including near-violations of the Archangel Treaty!"

In September of 1949, nearly one month after the Soviet Union had test-detonated their first nuclear bomb, a secret treaty was signed in Archangel, Russia, between representatives of the Kremlin and the American Defense and State Departments. It was done in the home of a retired headmaster of Durmstrang, in the local version of Diagon Alley, with a memory-altering charm cast immediately afterward. So that his muggle visitors would have no memory of the house's exact address- -nor even its appearance- -when they returned to their own world.

This treaty, among other things, specified that if any member of the Legacy tried to interfere, in any way/shape/form, with the psychic research that would now be done on behalf of the Soviet Union, by the former Legacy House now located in East Berlin, the Kremlin would see it as an act of war. Which, in turn, would result in the Order of Teraka declaring war against the Legacy as a whole!

Such a thing, of course, would permanently expose the supernatural, to the general public, as all too real. Leading to world-wide panic and chaos and, perhaps, even nuclear conflict. Consequently, the Legacy now did most of its espionage-with-a-capital-ESP through House Fortunae of the Order of Hermes.

Or, at least, they were supposed to be doing so.

"What were you thinking?!" John Summers now demanded. "Hiring him to break into the East German embassy. Of all places!"

"But, I didn't!" exclaimed Usher. "Last month, Sir Waldo Newton, the Precept of Hong Kong House, was visited by Chao Chang of the Wu Lung Craft. And, according to him? A corporation called Pentex has been doing business with Ostberlinhaus through a certain bank in Switzerland. A bank owned by the Eberstadt family! I hired Martin to break into the office of the bank president and find out why. That was three weeks ago. The last time I heard from him was forty-eight hours ago. He told me he had photographed some documents in a file labeled _'Project: Yulan-jin_!' And that I was to send someone trustworthy to pick up the photos from him... right where the D.C. police found his body."

That was all it took to drain the wind of indignation from John's emotional sails.

"Did you say... _'yulan-jin_?' "

Usher nodded, adding. "You know what that means. Don't you?"

Now, it was John's turn to nod. For that word was a Sino-Japanese portmanteau that roughly translated. . .as "_soul jumper_".

**tbc**

**Special note:** _I'm humorously extrapolating that Cho Chang (Harry Potter's first crush) might have been named, as closely as possible, after her father._

**Glossary:**

**Agent G-8:** _a high-flying master spy for the Allies during WWI, created for the eponymous Depression-era pulp magazine G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES, by Robert J. Hogan.*_

**Captain Philip Strange: **_a high-flying master spy for the Allies during WWI, created for the Depression-era pulp magazine FLYING ACES, by the man better known as the "Father of Modern Ufology," Donald Keyhoe.*_

**The Picaroon:** _a swashbuckling cat burglar created, circa 1921, by Herman Landon. With Police Captain Summers as his eternal nemesis._

**Godfrey Usher:** _a swashbuckling psychic researcher created, circa 1917, by Herman Landon._

_*The former was never given a civilian name. And the latter was known by his German adversaries as "The Brain Devil" for his mind-reading ability. As several of their stories had "Invisible Staffel," in their titles, I've amalgamated both characters for the purpose of this fanfic._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

By Carycomic

**221-B BLEECKER STREET,**

**GREENWICH VILLAGE,**

**NEW YORK CITY, NY**

**(JUNE 9, 1955)**

Jethro Dumont hugged his guest before politely guiding her to a comfortable chair facing the desk in his study.

"So!" exclaimed Cassandra. "What can you tell me about this Fenris Greybeard?"

"Well," began the Green Lama as he opened a little black book. "...from what I was able to glean (by astrally perusing the Akashic Record)? He was born a Fenrir Kinsman, of ahroun auspice, near Vargoy, Finnmark County, Norway, circa the late 1600's. He served as a ronin, on the Swedish side, during the Great Northern War. And he was inadvertently left for dead, after getting wounded, at the Battle of Poltava."

"Unfortunately, he was still somewhat alive when he was found by Black Spiral Dancers working for a Tremere antitribu of the Telyavelic bloodline! So, they brought him to their boss who, in turn, brought him to the Setite sorcerers at Jormungandr's Hall. There, in collaboration with a Silver Spiral theurge, who had defected from the Blood Red Crest sept, they put him on the receiving end of a body swap. Yulan-jin style! And, as a result, that traitorous theurge, in the ahroun's body, managed to infiltrate House Bjornaer... and learn everything they had to teach about animagic. By the time they learned the truth, it was too late! He had already fled their chantry, in the Harz Mountains, for the Gaian caern in the Forbidden Forest near Hogsmeade, Scotland."

"Was that before or after he was fully vampirized by the Setites?" Cassandra semi-rhetorically asked.

"Definitely afterward. As for the Fenrir in the Silver Spiral's body? He was sent to the Nagaraja stronghold in India... as an exotic snack."

"Goddess have mercy!" Cassandra whispered, eyes closed in fervent prayer.

"You haven't even heard the worst part, yet," replied her host. "Greybeard is acting as Kantos' guide... in the hunt for more yulan-jin vitae."

"Yulan-jin vitae?" echoed the Immortal wizardess. "You mean, that's how those Setites forced the original body swap?!"

"I think so," nodded the Green Lama. "Why Kantos might need it, though, I have no idea. I mean, being an Immortal, doesn't his Quickening automatically get absorbed by whoever finally gets to decapitate him?"

"That's always been the tendency. But, as he's spent the last few centuries trying to avoid the way he's __prophesied__ to lose his head, he might now be trying to find a way to channel his essence into another corporeal host while he's still alive and kicking!"

Such was the reason why Tsarong, Jethro Dumont's faithful manservant, now had a fire going in the spacious fireplace of the brownstone's living room. So that, once he had turned the flames green with magic floo powder, Cassandra could teleport to her next destination. Although, she naturally had to take off her clothing, first, and then put the clothes in a knapsnack, before reverting to her Crinos form!

Following which, she entered the flames and growled out her destination. "Klaital Puk Monastery, Tibet."

**NEW YORK HOUSE**

**(MAY 30, 1967)**

For a moment more, John Summers was thunderstruck. Then, he shook his head as something occurred to him.

"What, precisely, did Chao Chang say to Sir Waldo to make him- -and you- -think Pentex is in cahoots with East Berlinhaus?"

"Chao Chang told him that a certain company in Japan has been sending large monthly shipments, of Swiss watch knock-offs, to a West German department store chain called _'Krelmar Und Seltzman'_, conveniently owned by Pentex, for the past year. But, aside from one warehouse and a post box office, both in West Berlin, no such chain exists! There are, however, a couple of scientists who were recently spotted by special investigators of the British Floo Network Authority entering an unlicensed floo depot in London's Nocturne Alley. Hans Krelmar; a brilliant biophysicist and cyberneticist with the Virtual Adepts. And Dieter Seltzer; a self-proclaimed _'neurochemical engineer'_ with the Children of Knowledge. When the FNA busted the owners of that depot, they managed to break one of them under interrogation. And he revealed what he heard those two '_clients_' state as their destination."

"Ostberlinhaus."

John crisscrossed his arms, indicating that he was still somewhat skeptical.

"If he were a muggle criminal, the authorities would be required to find a secondary source of the same information before accepting it as credible."

"I know, and we did. An East German scientist who defected to the UK, last year. Jakob Seltzman! Dieter's older brother... and Krelmar's ex-research partner."

That succeeded in astounding John.

"But, that makes no sense! Why would a glorified alchemist and a souped-up numerologist be working together for the Soviets? Of all people!"

"I don't know. But, I hope to find out, very soon, when my courier gets here with Martin's photos."

" _'Ask and thou shalt receive_,' " quoted a new voice in an equally low whisper.

Both older men turned around to see a young Chinese-American male, approximately nineteen years of age, holding a brown Manila envelope under his left arm.

"Wong!" exclaimed Usher. "How did you get in here?"

"I was being followed too closely, in Washington, to risk returning to the local Legacy House. So, I used my grandfather's old portkey and rematerialized in the lavatory of his old bedroom!"

Usher stopped smiling as he suddenly remembered his manners.

"Oh, dear! Forgive me. John Summers? Meet Clyde Wong: grandson of my predecessor's personal assistant."

"It's an honor, sir," replied the former.

"The honor is mine, Huise Yinying," countered the latter using the Mandarin Chinese term for "_gray shadow_".

"Quickly!" urged Usher. "Let's adjourn to the study before the other guests become overly curious."

Twenty minutes later, John Summers dropped the magnifying glass he had been using back down on the desktop with half-shocked realization.

"Swiss watch knock-offs? My maiden Aunt Fanny!"

"What is it?" demanded Usher. "What's wrong?"

"It's Japanese computer circuits that are being sold and shipped to West Berlin! Not watches."

"Computer circuits?!" echoed the elderly Precept.

John nodded. "Yeah! And anything computerized, being built for an East German project named for Chinese body-hopping vampires..."

". . .is most definitely __not__ a good thing," agreed Wong.

**tbc**

**Glossary:**

**Fenrir:** _Scandinavian Garou tribe (a.k.a. "The Get of Fenris"). _

**Telyavelic bloodline:** _a Lithuanian-based subsect of Clan Tremere._

**Jormungandr's Hall:** _headquarters for a Scandinavian bloodline of the vampiric Setite Clan._

**Silver Spiral:** _Garou term of contempt for any members of the Silver Fang tribe who become Wyrm-worshiping renegades (a la the Black Spiral Dancers)._

**Blood Red Crest:** _Southeast Asian sept of the Silver Fang Garou._

**Nagaraja (Hindu for "****_king cobra_****"):** _a subsect of the Setite Clan who were magically mutated into eaters of human (or, at least, non-vampiric) flesh by Indian necromancers called the Chakravanti through experiments allegedly inspired by the origins of Clan Tremere!_

**Clyde Wong:** _in -joke reference to veteran actor Clyde Kusatsu, who played Wong in the 1978 CBS TV-movie "Dr. Strange" (starring Peter Hooten in the title role and Sir John Mills as Thomas "the Ancient One" Lindmer)._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**By Carycomic**

**UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BASE, **

**SAALFELD, WEST GERMANY**

**(JUNE 6, 1967)**

Colonel George Durston, A-2, had just entered his sound-proofed office when he heard the sound of someone- -quite literally- -popping in behind him.* He therefore spun about, his magic wand already drawn and at the ready! To his credit, however, he managed to stop himself, just in time, upon seeing who it was and observing the physical state they were in.

"Great Scott! What happened to you two?"

The Potter Brothers, Damon and Pythias, were identical twins who had first seen action in the trenches of World War I Europe. True, they had been teenage Boy Scouts at the time! Yet, they had not been normal teenagers. They were, in fact, American-born wizarding folk descended from British-born immigrant wizard Abraham Potter. With the latter's great-great-grandson- -the twins' father, Charlus Potter- -having continued the family tradition of home-tutoring his children in the old ways of Hermetic wizardry.

Including how to whip up a batch of polymorphic juice wherever and whenever the occasion demanded it. Despite any first-hand scarcity of ingredients!

It was this magic potion that had allowed them to successfully pass themselves off as grown-ups when they enlisted in the Foreign Legion, via the French embassy in Washington, DC, in 1914. A seemingly rash action that they had been inspired to take, after learning of a speech that had been given by their father's distant cousin, Fleapont Potter, before the British Wizengamot. To their credit, however, they only served as medical corpsmen. Thereby using their magic, not to kill enemy soldiers, but, rather, to heal wounded Allied ones.

Yet, all that changed after World War II broke out.

While Pythias served in the U.S. Army, as a full-fledged medical officer, Damon became a double-agent for the O.S.S. Using polyjuice potion to impersonate (incredible as it might seem) a __Japanese__ spy!

So, naturally, Pythias was aghast when Damon ultimately told him about the devastation that had been wrought, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August of 1945.

"Every wizarding community in the world, acting together, couldn't have shielded those cities from what was done to them! So, I'm telling you, Py, there's no way our people wouldn't become collateral damage in the event of an atomic world war. The only way to keep that from ever happening is if wizarding folk, like us, lent our skills to the espionage game."

Pythias had agreed. So began their twenty-two years of clandestine service with the Defense Research Initiative. Serving, at first, under James Rufus Albright (Gen./USAF Reserve). And, then, after he retired, under his successor, Colonel Durston. The latter being a somewhat younger man than the Potter Brothers. Yet, secretly, also a wizard, no less brave or talented than them. Especially given the baptism of fire he had undergone, during the Korean War, when he had taken aerial reconnaissance photos, behind enemy lines, from one mile up, using nothing more than a WWII-surplus Graflex K-20 camera...

...and a Garand M-1 rifle transfigured into a flying broomstick.

"Help me get him on to the couch!" Pythias now demanded.

Durston did not stand on military protocol in following that emotionally-given order. He simply repeated his first question, a little more gently.

"There was a trap waiting," gasped Damon. "Just like we figured. But, now, we know for sure. That warehouse- - -in West Berlin- - -is just one- - -big- - -portkey! The nomaj workers fill it to capacity, then leave. After which, the caretaker comes in... and sends everything to the other side of the Wall."

"He's wizard-folk, too?" asked the colonel.

Pythias nodded. "Which means he's working for Eberstadt, which proves that Eberstadt is collaborating with the East Germans."

Durston shook his head. "Correction! Not proof. Just a strong implication."

"Strong enough to get some action out of House Tytalus?" asked Damon.

"Maybe."

NEW YORK HOUSE

(1 WEEK EARLIER)

"Clyde!" asked Usher. "What exactly happened at the rendezvous?"

The younger man shrugged. "Everything was going pretty smoothly; making me think that he'd been right. Audaciously handing over those photos in front of the East German embassy was the last thing anybody would expect. But, evidently, someone had thought just like him. Because, the next thing I knew, he was looking over my shoulder, getting this panic-stricken look on his face, and then whirling us around one hundred eighty degrees. Followed by someone shouting _'Avada Kedavra_!' and Martin lying flat on his back. Dead!"

"When I looked back up, I saw what appeared to be a local beat cop, half a block down, starting to point his billy club at me. Reacting instinctively, I drew my wand, pointed it at him, and shouted '_Stupefy_!' Then, I ran for it. I spent the rest of that morning dodging what looked like plainclothes aurors."

"But, whose aurors?" grumbled John Summers. "That's what I'd like to know."

"Eberstadt's, most likely," replied Usher. "He employs a good number of retired ones as private security for his bank."

"We have to find out for sure," countered John. "I'm portkeying back to my house to contact the Initiative."

**SAALFELD AIR BASE**

**(1 WEEK LATER)**

"So, what happened, exactly?" demanded Col. Durston.

"It was quitting time," explained Damon. "And, the moment the last of the nomaj workers left, I apparated to the roof of the warehouse to do some peeping through one of the skylights. I wasn't disappointed. The caretaker came in; he locked all the doors; then he took out a piece of paper with his right hand while touching the wall behind him with his left. A second later, the warehouse was emptier than a re-elected Republican's campaign promises!"

"The next thing I know, I'm surrounded by a half a dozen plainclothes aurors pointing their wands at me."

"Luckily, for him," added Pythias. "I apparated in behind them all and stupefied them on the spot!"

"But, that seemed to automatically summon a whole lot more," countered Damon. "Because, we had to spend all of last night, apparating all over West Germany, trying to lose them!"

"Every single one of them using a modified electric cattle prod as a wand," finished his twin. "So they could electrically transmit crucio-curses!"

"That settles it," declared the colonel. "I'm notifying House Quaesitor!"

**tbc**

**GLOSSARY**

***A-2**: _obsolescent nickname for U.S. Air Force Intelligence (similar to G-2 for Army Intelligence)._

**Potter Brothers:** _the titular protagonists of a six-part serial about two globe-trotting Boy Scouts originally published by Saalfield Publishing Group (copyright circa 1914) under the in-house pen name "Col. George Durston." I just threw in "Damon and Pythias" for my own amusement and convenience!_

**James Rufus Albright:** _an in-joke reference to the WWI flying ace-turned-Golden Age crime-fighter "Captain Midnight" (nee Jim Albright aka "Red"). Like the more-famous Shadow, a star of Depression-era radio, movies, pulp magazines, and comic books._

**Nomaj:** _American wizarding slang term for non-magical humans. Equivalent to British term "muggle"._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.****  
**

**SOMEWHERE IN THE VALE OF KASHMIR (1955)****  
**  
They were quite the disparate pair as they walked along. A Caucasian man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a hooded gray cloak over a long-sleeved khaki shirt with matching jodhpurs and black boots. And a barrel-chested individual who looked like a cross between a bear and an ape (wearing jodhpurs and boots only)!

"May I ask you a personal question?" inquired the latter.

"You may," replied Kantos. "Within reason, of course."

"Why are you so obsessed with finding a yulan-jin? As an Immortal, even vampires cannot drain you dry! You only have to worry about decapitation by fellow Immortals."

"Precisely," said Kantos. "Something I thought I was safe from while I dwelt on the holy ground that marked the headquarters of the Chakravanti in Tibet. Then, one day, I met a vampire. A Nosferatu antitribu serving as Master of the Aurelian Order. And he divulged to me a curious prophesy concerning... me."

"He told me that I was destined to be decapitated by a champion of light, born during the winter solstice, following a personal period of darkness. That is, of course, unless I tracked him down and beheaded him, first! I could not agree with him more, so I deserted my diplomatic posting to do just that. My quest, however, has thus far proven fruitless. So, instead, I have formulated a contingency plan. When the prophesied time comes, I am determined to swap bodies with the aforementioned champion! So that it will be I, in __his__ body, taking my head. Thereby fulfilling the letter of the prophecy... while simultaneously defying the spirit of it."

Fenris Greybeard hoarsely chuckled. "Clever! A little convoluted, perhaps; but clever."

Kantos frowned in puzzlement.

"Is that not similar to the reason you projected your astral body into the Silver Fang theurge who originally tried to destroy you?"

"Nein! It was simply to escape the limitations inherent with being a Nagaraja."

**EAST BERLINHAUS (1967)**

Doctors Krelmar and Seltzmann looked at their Russian audience. A GRU general; his KGB counterpart; and their various aides of both sexes.

"Vilkommen, mein herren und damen," said Krelmar. "You are about to see the culmination of ten years of research and development. The activation of what mein colleague, Dr. Seltzmann, prefers to call _'the transmigratron_.' I, on the other hand, simply prefer to use the initials PTD (or psyche-transference device). But, whatever nomenclature you prefer, the effect will be the same. Whosoever is shackled to these two seats, and affixed with these two helmets, will have their minds and personalities electronically transposed from one body to another!"

"As proof," added Seltzmann. "…we will conduct an experiment. Using a gorilla/chimpanzee hybrid (accomplished via artificial insemination) from the Moscow Zoo. And a CIA double-agent recently arrested on our side of the Wall!"

Whereupon, a drugged ape was dragged forward. Along with a frantically-struggling man (his mouth gagged, and frontward-facing wrists heavily bound, with electrician's tape)! The two of them being subsequently placed in the aforementioned chairs, and adorned with the aforementioned helmets, by four burly members of the East German secret police.

"Do you wish to have the honor, Herr Doktor?" inquired Krelmar.

Dieter Seltzmann did not need to be asked twice. With a somewhat dramatic flourish that he just could not resist...

...he flipped the indicated switch.

**KLAITAL PUK MONASTERY,****  
****SOMEWHERE IN TIBET (1955)****  
**

As soon as Cassandra emerged from the flames, they returned to normal, automatically losing their magical green coloration. Whereupon, she turned around to behold three saffron-robed monks bowing to her in deference.

"Greetings, Lady Cassandra," said the one in the middle. "The Loup Guru sensed your imminent arrival and sent us to welcome you. Please, allow us to take you to his personal chambers where the two of you may converse in respectful privacy."

The Immortal wizardess nodded. Bipedally following the three monks in her Krinos form. Upon arriving at the aforementioned chambers, the evidently chosen spokesman for the trio politely asked her to wait in the anteroom for a few moments, as the Loup Guru's tea had not yet finished boiling.

"During that interval," he courteously added. "...you may resume your homid form. Thereby allowing you to don your more conventional vestments."

Cassandra chuckled at the thinly-veiled request to not appear before the head of the monastery as a naked woman. Nodding her compliance, accordingly, sure enough; within ten seconds after she had put on her favorite brown leather ensemble with matching cape (the latest replica of the one she had first worn during the Middle Ages), the door to the Loup Guru's inner chambers opened inward.

All by itself!

"Enter, my child, and double the savory flavor of my tea."

Cassandra smiled as she obeyed the soft-spoken command.

"Only you would refer to an Immortal, as old as myself, as a '_child_', Holiness."

The elderly Stargazer chuckled. The silvery-white hair of his Glabro form making him resemble the (highly erroneous) Occidental stereotype of the legendary Yeti.

"According to my acquaintances in the Chakravanti, we all go around more than once. By that logic, I am therefore probably just as old as you are, through constant rebirth! But, enough talk. Please! Sit and drink with me."

Again, she politely complied. With the Loup Guru pouring her tea, himself, before engaging her in small talk. It was only after she had finished all that tea that she broached the true, and deadly serious, reason for her visit. Her host listening attentively, before gravely nodding.

"Yes, I thought I perceived a disturbance in the Ether. Though I hoped I was wrong about it being the Abomination called Greybeard!"

"I'm sorry to dash that hope. But, I must stop them from whatever they're planning to do together. I therefore humbly ask... where in the Vale of Kashmir could Kantos possibly hope to find and diablerize any yulan-jin?"

"There are only two places that I know of," replied the elderly Stargazer. "The Temple of Shadows on the Leng Plateau, where the borders of India, Burma, and Tibet all converge. And the ruined city of Kala Pradesh, in northeastern Aksai Chin. Given what the Green Lama told you, I would suggest resuming your pursuit in the latter direction. Take care, however! It is rumored that the yulan-jin of Kala Pradesh are now led by a rogue Ajaba... named Tiaowen Kou."

Cassandra frowned in recognition of that name.

"Wasn't that the striped were-hyena who led the Stargazers out of Chaldea after Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia?"

The Loup Guru nodded: "The one in residence at Kala Pradesh is his namesake descendant."

* * * * *  
**TRIESTE, ITALY (1967)****  
**  
"Buon giorno, Signor," said the desk clerk on duty at the Hotel Cagliostro. "How may I be of-ah service?"

"Count Sanguinelli's room, please. Tell him its John Baring Summers, and that I'm here to see him on a matter of life and death. Final Death!"

**GLOSSARY****  
**

**Loup Guru:** _a pun that was just too good to resist._

**Crinos (aka "Krinos"):** _the most anthropomorphic stage of a Garou's shapeshifting process. Imagine the Big Bad Wolf of "Three Little Pigs" fame were the size of the Incredible Hulk._

**Glabro:** _the second stage of shapeshifting from human to wolf. Making the Garou in question resemble a hairy wild man (a la Lon Chaney, Jr.) or even a Bigfoot-type ape!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5. **

**SOMEWHERE IN TIBET (1955)**

"According to legend, Kala Pradesh was founded approximately two thousand years after the Great Flood. The builders being a geomantic sect of Nagah metis, called the Ahi Kamakshi, who used black basalt from the Deccan Plateau. And who chose a site previously occupied by the capital city of the last original Dragon Kingdom."

"It was their wizard-king, Sheksha, who presaged the fall of the city when he unwisely chose to give refuge to Herpo the Foul."

"The latter was a Euthanatoic Parselmouth who had fled ancient Greece upon learning that he had been condemned to death, after being tried and convicted, in absentia, by the First Wizengamot under Hermes Trismegistus, himself, for creating the very first basilisk. An Abomination he had subsequently used against the Garou during the War of Rage! And, as he had done so at the behest of the vampiric Setite Clan, it was they who helped smuggle him to India. There, he was taken in by the similarly necromantic Chakravanti, who subsequently appointed him their albireo, or emissary, to King Sheksha."

"That, in turn, is why their rivals, the Akashic Brotherhood, chose to side with both the Cult of Mercury* and the Silver Fang theurges of the Blood Red Crest. All three factions laid magical siege to the city! A long and costly siege, of course. Yet, one that was ultimately successful, nevertheless."

"Kala Pradesh fell... and Herpo the Foul was sent Beyond the Veil."

Cassandra grinned. "I remember when I first heard that story. It was from a Stargazer galliard, at House Shaea, in ancient Egypt. And I'm pretty sure she attributed most of that success to a Tibetan Qualmi called She-Li!"

The were-lynx in question telepathically chuckled as she licked her right paw.

"Galliards always exaggerate. It makes their stories less boring!"

"Even so," replied Cassandra, "I now have a better understanding of why those ruins have never been permanently abandoned. Too much inherent power left over. In fact, I'd venture to say that only the Temple of Shadows itself is more powerful!"

She-Li nodded, adding. "I know of only one magical faction that was ever crazy enough to try and harness that power. But, that's another story!"

The Last of the White Howlers stood back up from the rock on which she had been sitting.

"Sadly, it's one I'll have to save listening to for another occasion. Thank you, She-Li."

Cassandra emphasized the last part with a grateful bow. To which the Qualmi replied, "You can thank me by being careful enough to keep your head."

**HOTEL CAGLIOSTRO,**

**TRIESTE, ITALY**

**(JUNE 8, 1967)**

The vampire who referred to himself as "_Count Sanguinelli_" was rumored to be a Caitiff posing as an antitribu Tzimice of the Grimaldi bloodline. In actuality, however, he was a middleman for the arms-dealing Koenig bloodline of the Venetian Giovanni Clan! And the information he picked up in the course of that business is why John Baring Summers was meeting him in the hotel's main barroom.

The self-styled count ordered himself a "_Bovine Mary_" not too heavy on the vodka before turning back to his human visitor.

"So, signor! To what do I owe the unexpected honor of ah-this visit?"

John sipped his ginger ale with lemon before replying.

"The Duchevskis."

"Scusami?"

John smirked in bemusement.

"Revenant family, once known as the Krevcheskis? Blood-bonded to Clan Tzimice? But, now affiliated with Clan Tremere? With an almost-erotic thing for torture devices?"

"Ah, si. Si! What else-ah do you wish-ah to know about them?"

"Why are some of them working for the East Germans?"

"Whatever would-ah give you that idea, signore?" the count countered.

John frowned. "Scry into my ginger ale and see for yourself."

The Anglo-American operative held up his glass so the vampire could do as suggested. Sure enough; within the depths of the carbonated beverage, Sanguinelli beheld an electric cattle prod. Small arcs of electricity passing from one prong to another... like white-hot fireflies.

"One of my fellow aurors confiscated this from someone who was using it to project crucio curses! Yet, you and I both know that no mortal nephandus -not even Grindelwald, himself- would replace his precious wand with a magically weaponized muggle artifact. So, I ask you again: Why are Duchevski vampires working for the East Germans?"

Sanguinelli shrugged. "Non lo so, signore."

This caused John to sigh in blatant frustration.

"Fine! We'll do this the hard way."

Whereupon, he used his left hand to withdraw the toothpick-impaled lemon wedge from the ginger ale.

"Depulso!"

Before Sanguinelli could react in his defense, the toothpick flew out of the lemon wedge... and penetrated into his throat via the Adam's apple!

"Uhhhhn!"

John could not resist smirking.

"That toothpick has spent the past half hour floating amongst ice cubes made from holy water! So, I estimate about five minutes- -maybe less- -before it makes its way, slowly and painfully, down to your heart. Where it will then disintegrate you, with equally painful slowness, from the inside out. Unless, of course, you finally start _answering_ questions, rather than asking them! So, for the last time; why are Duchevski vampires working for the East Germans?"

"Don't... know," gasped Sanguinelli. "Ask... Goratrix."

"Goratrix?"

"Tremere... antitribu. Alytus... based. Duchevski clique... all... his. That... is all... I know!"

John grunted. "Fine, then. Accio!"

Whereupon, the toothpick came flying back out of Sanguinelli's throat and into the lemon wedge. Following which, the vampiric necromancer collapsed, face-first, on to the bar.

"Grazie tante, Signore Conte," recited John in his most formal Italian, as he put his drink back on the bar right next to Sanguinelli's face.

"Oh! And, one more thing," he added. "Tell Herr Koenig he might want to cease supplying that clique with electric cattle prods. Both immediately... and permanently."

Whereupon, he went to the fireplace in the hotel's main dining room, and threw floo powder into it, before intoning his next stop.

"Gorodok Gargoyles' clubhouse; Vilnius, Lithuania."

**EAST BERLINHAUS **

**(24 HOURS EARLIER)**

"Guten morgen, Herr Professor."

"Guten morgen, Herr Doktor."

Dr. Krelmar shook hands with Professor Matthew Rath outside the infirmary.

"How is your patient, this morning?"

"Much, much better. There was some initial bafflement, of course. But, fortunately, he is adapting to his new form even faster than I anticipated!"

"Then, you are ready to proceed with your part of Operation: Kaos?"

"Jawohl. I have even decided on a suitable code-name for him! His host body's true identity was Charles Armstrong of the CIA. So, I shall condition him to respond to the code-name '_Chuckoolakambe_.' '_Chucko_,' for short!"

**tbc**

**GLOSSARY**

***Cult of Mercury:** _Greco-Roman forerunner of the wizarding Order of Hermes._

**Chuckoolakambe:** _another in-joke. "Koolakambe" is the folkloric name for a purportedly natural-occurring hybrid of chimpanzee and gorilla somewhere in West Africa. While "Chucko" was the name given by a mad scientist to a genetically engineered killer ape in the GET SMART episode "The Apes of Rath."_

**She-li:** _Mandarin Chinese word for "lynx." _


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**By Carycomic**

**VILNIUS, LITHUANIA**

**(JUNE 9, 1967)**

It had gone even better than planned.

So eager had Pythias Potter's pursuers been, to get him, that they followed him right to the foot of Mount Brocken, on the East German side of the border. Prompting him to grin as he subsequently exclaimed: "Guten abend, mein scheisskopfen! Meet the aurors of Houses Tytalus and Bjornaer."

Whereupon, the wizards concerned had sprung their trap. The wand-to-wand fighting that followed had naturally been quite fierce! But, in the end, Potter's pursuers were subdued. Thereby allowing the victors to learn the startling truth.

Their prisoners were revenants. Semi-vampirized mortals, of a selectively bred family, blood-bonded to a particular vampire clan!

"It wasn't hard to figure out which one," Pythias Potter had declared, during the debriefing, back in Colonel Durston's office, "But, we took the electro-prods back to House Verditius, for technomantic psychometry, anyway. They confirmed it. Clan Tremere; Duchevski blood line."

Captain Summers had shaken his head in stunned disbelief. But, Colonel Durston had merely shrugged.

"Stands to reason. Those bastards love anything sadistic the way the Toreador Clan loves art and entertainment!"

"Even so," Summers had replied, "...to say that this puts a whole new complexion on things would be putting it mildly!"

"Not to worry," Potter had told him. "Damon and I just happen to know someone who could remove a good part of the blemish from that complexion. A Tyrolean relative of the ones who supplied those electro-prods. And, as it turns out, he's currently on summer vacation... in Trieste."

That was how Captain Summers had wound up at the Hotel Cagliostro, thirty-six hours later, interrogating the initially reluctant Count Sanguinelli. The full details of that interrogation providing much amusement for the good captain's current host. Jan Kalvis; the half-Veela owner of the Lithuanian quidditch team known as the Gorodok Gargoyles.

"I love it! For a long time, now, I have fantasized on doing something similar to that money-grubbing bloodsucker. Ever since he welched on a certain bet that he had with me! But, of course, with his family's connections..."

"If it helps," Summers replied. "...I can give you irrefutable proof that he's the one who started the rumor that's he an antitribu Grimaldi! Proof that I'm sure the Sabbat would just love to act upon, should he refuse, once more, to make good on that bet."

Kalvis' grin broadened until it was downright feral.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh! If that is true, you would find me most grateful, old friend."

"Grateful enough to help smuggle me, as close as possible, to the Alytus chantry?"

"I will not lie to you. Arranging such will very difficult. But, not impossible! How may I contact you when arrangements are complete?"

"Use this," replied Summers (handing over what looked like a Diner's Club card). "It's a portkey that will permit you- -and only you!- -to come to the safe house where I'll be staying."

"Labai gerai! I will see you, then."

**VALE OF KASHMIR, **

**AKSAI CHIN REGION**

**(JUNE 14, 1955)**

As they got closer to the black basalt ruins of Kala Pradesh, Roland Kantos became proportionately amazed at the magical skill and precision that must have gone into the city's construction. There was only a quarter-mile left to go, however, when Fenris Greybeard barred the Immortal nephandus from going any further. The claws of the former's left hand pointed in the direction of the latter's throat with unmistakable meaning.

"We will not be allowed to be proceed any nearer without an invitation. Observe."

The rogue werewolf then looked up toward the sky before emitting an ear-splitting howl. A howl that was answered almost immediately! Followed by a number of loathsome-looking quadrupeds emerging from what was left of Kala Pradesh's gargantuan main gate.

"Are those...?" Kantos began to ask.

Fenris nodded. "Black Spiral Dancers."

In less time than it takes to tell, the two of them were surrounded. But, Kantos did his best to look as unconcerned as his lycanthropic guide. Still, he could not resist looking puzzled when he heard Fenris address the alpha male of this group in what sounded like an obscure Chinese dialect. One that his own fluency in Mandarin and Cantonese proved insufficient at translating. The alpha male replied in the same dialect for a few moments. He then paused so Fenris could translate.

"They don't normally welcome visitors who look as human as you do. But, Tiaowen Kou informed them, beforehand, that he was expecting us. So we are to follow this retinue very, very slowly. Making no false moves, whatsoever!"

Kantos nodded his understanding of the orders. Consequently, it took twenty-five minutes for he and Fenris to finally reach their long-sought destination. The throne room of the castle that once served as the residence of the wizard-kings of Kala Pradesh. A strong reminder of this being the five-headed bust of a king cobra that surmounted the throne room's solid gold chair!

A chair now occupied by Tiaowen Kou of the Ajaba.

"Greetings, Fenris Greybeard!" the latter ritually intoned.

"Greetings to you, as well, Tiaowen Kou. It has been a long time since last we met."

"Indeed! I hope my taotie underlings did not frighten your guest, too much."

The renegade Garou immediately took the hint.

"May I introduce my traveling companion? Roland Kantos; late of the Order of Hermes. Now, a follower of the Golden Path!"

The Immortal nephandus respectfully bowed, right on cue. The striped were-hyena then returned the courtesy with a brief nod before resuming the conversation.

"I was told by certain acquaintances, among the local Corax, that you were headed here. May I ask what brings you all this way after so long an interval?"

"He seeks to capture a live yulan-jin... for '_study_'."

Whereupon, Tiaowen Kou quietly laughed. In a tone chillingly reminiscent of one of his African brethren!

"The phrase _'live yulan-jin_' could be described as oxymoronic. Emphasis on the '_moronic_!' For how can one capture that which can migrate from one corporeal form to another like water through an irrigation ditch?"

"Surmounting such difficulty need concern only he and I, old friend," Greybeard replied. "All we wish to learn from you is the most likely place to find such a kuei-jin."

The previously quiet laughter rose to outright snickering! That is; before he paused to half-seriously apologize.

"Forgive me, old friend. It is simply that you two are not the first to come here on such a quest. There was one other, less than twenty-four hours ago! And I advised him to visit the same location I now disclose to you. The Temple of Shadows... atop the Leng Plateau."

Kantos looked at Greybeard before finally venturing to speak on his own behalf.

"May I ask this other party's name, Ajaba-tuan?"

Tiaowen Kou's grin, at being addressed as a "_lord_," was positively feral.

"He called himself... Voldemort."

**tbc**


End file.
